Gap year?

Are you pretty motivated and know that if you take a year off, you'll still have the drive to go the next year?

A gap year is traditionally used to figure out what you want to do. The idea being, that instead of wasting your moms money on the first year of your sports management degree, you can grow a little and figure out what direction you really want to take in life.

Taking a year off in between a degree that you will use ... that's just crazy. unless your totally stressed out and failing .. or discovered that your anthropology of sex minor is not going to be the cash cow you had hoped.

I took 2 years off before I did my degree ... best thing ever for me. Because I didn't know what I wanted to do. about 25% of my friends who went to uni right away, just wasted tones of cash..and we all graduated together ;)

The best advise I can give, is don't waste the time you take.

Beetle_KillThe best advise I can give, is don't waste the time you take.

Wasting time is good actually for short periods of time. I'm on a gap year before uni atm and I've spent the last 3 days playing Halo Master Chief Collection. And the decision to take this gap year was probably the best one I've made. Go for it OP.

Taking a gap year was one of the best decisions I've made. I did it so I could get recruited to college for a sport and I had dim prospects coming out of my senior year since I matured physically pretty late and didn't have the numbers junior year to get looked at seriously by any ivies. I had a super successful senior spring athletically which gave me the credentials to get recruited and by mid-October I was committed and had the rest of the year to do whatever I wanted.

Sports aside it was a great call since I was pretty burnt out of school. Sometimes it's good to take a step back and regroup if you're not too excited to go into college and start doing schoolwork. Most people think college is just drinking and fucking bitches, but it's still school and that's what you're paying for and you can be prepared to spend a good amount of time working. I have a close friend who had to take a semester off because he'd been taking classes through every summer and basically hadn't had a break from school since the summer between his junior and senior year in high school. He ultimately realized it was a waste of money to be in school and not be fully invested in his coursework

I would recommend going abroad if you have the money to do so, don't just dick around all year or you will go insane. I went to England for 4 months and took some cool seminars in Oxford since I needed to be doing something academic in order to reapply to college. Afterwards I went out to Tahoe for a couple months and got certified in Avy 1 and 2 (luckily I had a free place to stay) and then I spent the rest of the year working various jobs to help cover my expenses from earlier in the year.

I matured a great deal physically and mentally, I learned how to live completely on my own in a different country, I got to ski a fuck ton, and I came into college with an entirely different perspective on things that allowed me to focus on being a full time student athlete while not constantly wishing I had more free time to dick around. I think if I hadn't been an athlete it wouldn't have made as much of a difference since I wasn't too burnt out of school, but it was really nice to have some time to catch my breath before diving headfirst into 25 hours a week of practice on top of everything else.

Sorry for the essay but i would highly recommend taking one if you do it for the right reasons and use your time well

Beetle_KillA gap year is traditionally used to figure out what you want to do. The idea being, that instead of wasting your moms money on the first year of your sports management degree, you can grow a little and figure out what direction you really want to take in life.

Taking a year off in between a degree that you will use ... that's just crazy. unless your totally stressed out and failing .. or discovered that your anthropology of sex minor is not going to be the cash cow you had hoped.

I took 2 years off before I did my degree ... best thing ever for me. Because I didn't know what I wanted to do. about 25% of my friends who went to uni right away, just wasted tones of cash..and we all graduated together ;)

The best advise I can give, is don't waste the time you take.

I moved out to Colorado for 2 years, after hs and got my partying out of my system best choice I ever made.

I wish I would have taken a gap year. There;s no way I was mature enough or even ready for college coming straight out of High School. I'm taking a year off from my degree next year, because I'm so burnt out.

Go figure out where you want to spend the next 4 years of your life. Its easier to enjoy yourself when you're somewhere you want to be.

live off your parents money for as long as possible. I did a gap year and made some dough for weed in college. improved my sports game to get recruited by a dope college, and skied at my local hill every day. It was the best of times.

I didn't and I'm glad I didn't, here's why:

If I had taken a year off to ski bum before college, there's no way I would have been able to move back to the Midwest for college. Living out west now after college I can say that for sure. If I hadn't gone to college in my home town, I wouldn't have been able to finish college without student loans. I enjoy the fact that I am not burdened by student loans now.

I also already knew what I wanted to go to school for, and that I could finish my degree in 3 1/2 years if I went to school in Duluth. I guarantee you I would have taken at least a year longer at any other college out west.

Plus, since I finished my degree in December, I kind of took a gap six months after graduating and before starting my career, worked at Big Sky, and then camped at Mt. Hood in the spring. I feel like I had a lot more fun doing all those things as a 21 year old than I would have as a 18 year old.

I also likely would not have discovered Montana if it wasn't for some friends from my freshman year of college, and would have likely missed the opportunity to get the job that I have now and enjoy, so hindsight being 20/20, I'm glad I went straight into college.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't take a gap year though. I have friends who did and it seemed to work out pretty well for them. Everyone's situation is different and I'd say mine's probably atypical, but I'm glad I didn't.

i did and it was the best thing i ever did. never again will you be this full of energy and have a year with no commitments. i went to thailand and cambodia for the whole time, it was so fucking rad. party and shit all the time, mack on foreign hoes, soooooo good!

biggest mistake i made was taking a gap year.

biggest mistake i made was taking a gap year.

dont take a year off to smoke weed and do nothing. move abroad, get a job, do something productive. leave everything and travel for 6 months. do something that will make you grow. otherwise go to school.

I took a gap year, and I don't regret it at all. I took an online class, worked full time the whole way through, went to Europe for a few weeks with a friend, and basically grew up a bit. By the time I got to uni, I was that much more mature and prepared to be an adult.

Some people do slump a bit, but I don't know anyone who fully stagnated after HS. I would say the bigger concern is if you take a year off mid degree or something.

Definitely do it and try to travel. I have a bunch of friends that are doing it and it makes me wish I had.

my gap year was the best year of my life, uni is pretty dull in comparison. now i just have no motivation to study... it probably wasn't the best choice realistically for me, but do i regret it? nope. you'll have THE best time.

I honestly wish I had taken a gap year and traveled. The maturity you gain from a year of travel is pretty insane.

Even if you want to do a ski season, I'd maybe try signing up for a month long volunteer program either for November or April. That way it either starts you with a totally focused and positive state of mind or as the season starts winding down it gives you something amazing to really look forewords to.

Just don't go stagnant.

Gap year fo sho!